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Family history question

M

Medina27

Well-Known Member
Messages
85
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
My GREAT uncle is the only member of my entire family tree who was possibly type 1 and I know my Ancestry going back 300 years

I say "possibly". He was insulin dependent, lost both his legs, had glaucoma and haemophilia. Can this also happen with type 2? Or is pretty much likely a type 1?

I've heard the genetic inheritance link is weak, and to be honest I believe it. How else did it skip all those generations to get to me
 
Tenuous at best IMO. Guesswork
 
Medina27 said:
Can this also happen with type 2?
Click to expand...

To my knowledge the potential complications are largely consistent between T1/T2. Although T2 has the additional likely burden of decades of insulin toxicity and all the other associated issues that come free with total metabolic meltdown.
 
I have a family history of T2 diabetes in my grandparents and 2 aunties, but that was more lifestyle choice. My parents were healthy (my dad was a boxer, so definitely not overweight or anything). I was 4 or 5 when diagnosed, which was definitely not due to lifestyle choice. I find it easier to blame "luck of the draw", unfortunately i drew the short straw this time round my point is, i believe the T2 inheritance link is much stronger than that for T1, but it can be overcome by lifestyle choice, whereas you just have to be unlucky for T1.
With it being your GREAT uncle i would say he was diagnosed T1, as back then i don't think insulin dependent T2 was a thing? Those complications could be either to be honest.
 
Genes do play a role in the development of Type 1 diabetes but it's not a simple relationship - you don't inherit 'a gene for diabetes'. It's better to think of it as a combination of genes which are inherited due to random shuffling of genes from both parents. This combination makes an individual more likely to react to some unknown factor in the environment by developing auto-immunity to the islet cells of the pancreas. Even if your father had type 1, you would only have a 1 in 17 chance of developing type 1 yourself.

More detail about inheritability here:- https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/diabetes-type-1-genetics#1
 
Hi,

I got no idea.. I was diagnosed at the age of 8 & occaisionaly there was mention of a distant family member with "touch of diabetes."
An aunt on my dad's side. My nan on my mum's side hated doctors & inexplicably had a finger amputated at the knuckle after an "infection" got out of control.. (Make of that what you will.)
My dad was however diagnosed later in life T2. "Hey what do you know. I got a touch of diabetes.."

But then musos run in my family too.. My great grandfather had a band, knocked my GGM up thrice & disappeared back to Italy... They were not married.

"Rock & roll." We think we invented it...
 

Hi there, my uncle on my mum's side had Type 1, but died in the 1970's, there was also a mention of my grandmother, my my mum and uncles mum, having diabetes and she died when my mum was only 6 years old, but as yet, I have no knowledge of what she died of..
My granddaughter was diagnosed with Type 1 @ 2, 1/2 years old.
 
Do an AncestryDNA test and then send your results to Promethease if you want to learn about medical aspects of your genetic heritage. It's all interesting stuff
 
With instances of T1 also on the rise, there is some increasingly vocal chatter about its origins laying in exposure to something in our environment, coupled with genetic susceptibility, and doubtless an element of bad luck. Intestinal permeability caused by modern wheat is thought to play a role. I've even read some literature possibly linking the autoimmune reaction with the newborn baby's lack of exposure to the biome in the birth canal when delivered by cesarian section.

I doubt it will ever be fully understood in our lifetime.
 
No history of t1 in my family - although uncle is type 2, he drank, smoked, didn't exercise and ate a very high carb diet.

I think there are many conclusions we can draw in any direction of a correlation or lack of, it's been discussed many times, but nothing substantial enough to point the finger in any direction.
 
I am the only person in my direct family as far as I know, back to my great grandparents, to have a diabetes diagnosis. None of them had diabetes diagnosed as a contributory cause of death recorded on their death certificates. Also, until fairly recent times, T2 was not routinely tested for.

However, my obsession with family history has lead me to discover several cases of diabetes in more distant ancestors and their extended families. My great, great grandfather had diabetes recorded as a cause of death in 1897. He was 72 years old and therefore it can be assumed he was T2 or he would likely have died much younger (no insulin in those days). I have now discovered 6 more cases where extended family have had diabetes recorded on their death certificates. They were all fairly elderly, and all died in the late 1800's or early 1900's before the advent of insulin. My DNA is connected to all these people. (verified).
 
I have a family history of autoimmune conditions so I'm fairly confident that's how mine came about
 
Medina27 said:
My GREAT uncle is the only member of my entire family tree who was possibly type 1 and I know my Ancestry going back 300 years
Click to expand...

But do you know how all these people up to 300 years ago died? You have no way of knowing whether they had diabetes or not.
 
Rusty_Sweetbread said:
Do an AncestryDNA test and then send your results to Promethease if you want to learn about medical aspects of your genetic heritage. It's all interesting stuff
Click to expand...

Already done years ago. Interestingly it said my chances for autoimmune disorders were 99%. I laughed at the time, I'm not laughing now

Shannon27 said:
my dad was a boxer
Click to expand...

Your poor boyfriend!

Bluetit1802 said:
But do you know how all these people up to 300 years ago died? You have no way of knowing whether they had diabetes or not.
Click to expand...

I'm a genealogist so I do have a bit of information on their health and how they died. Also insulin wasn't invented until 1922. So if someone died aged 90 in the 1700's it's probably best to assume they didn't have T1. You're right I can't be 100% but that's the game
 
Bluetit1802 said:
But do you know how all these people up to 300 years ago died? You have no way of knowing whether they had diabetes or not.
Click to expand...

In fact what am I talking about. I have every death certificate for my direct ascendants and none of them mention diabetes or any health complications that would suggest so
 
Medina27 said:
In fact what am I talking about. I have every death certificate for my direct ascendants and none of them mention diabetes or any health complications that would suggest so
Click to expand...
Admittedly there's no way to tell if they are all accurate of course.
But yeah, I got T1 when I was 2 and a half, and as far as anyone knew, no-one else in my family had had it - but then records may have been lost or there may have been misdiagnoses or anything
I figure there's no point speculating about it as I will unlikely ever accurately know
 
Medina27 said:
In fact what am I talking about. I have every death certificate for my direct ascendants and none of them mention diabetes or any health complications that would suggest so
Click to expand...

Sometimes this doesn't happen, my mum had heart failure and was in hospital for 6 weeks before she died, on the death certificate it states she died from pneumonia.
Many people contract pneumonia, especially older people who may already be in a weakened frail state, then die
 

I will still blame my Ex
 
Me and brother both Type 1. Also a distant relative. Both myself and other close members have various other autoimmune issues. Which is basically what type 1 is. Neither of us born by Caesarian section!
 
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